The Clark Collection in Giverny, from Manet to Renoir

Sterling et Francine Clark, a couple of great collectors

Most of the paintings in this exhibition were purchased by Robert Sterling Clark (1877–1956), and his wife, Francine Clary Clark (1876–1960), over the course of a forty year period, between 1910 and 1950, in which they built a
remarkable collection. Sterling Clark, an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, grew up in a wealthy New York family with parents who were themselves art collectors and
patrons. Clark began seriously acquiring art in 1912, when he was living in Paris. As a collector Clark was a maverick, disregarding the fashions of the art world and describing art historians as “lacking entirely an eye that appreciates
what is good.” Clark was a self-trained connoisseur, learning
through reading, visiting galleries, attending auctions, and developing relationships with art dealers – most notably the Durand-Ruel family.

A true passion for French artists

French painting from the Clark Collection presents masterpieces of late nineteenth-century art
featuring the full range of styles and trends of this dynamic period: naturalistic landscapes by artists of the Barbizon School, beautifully wrought pictures by academic and high-society painters, and decorative and evocative paintings of
the fin-de-siècle.

Exhibition organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

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